Don't Stop at Three Strikes: Four Keys for Total Victory

Sermon outline

The king who struck the ground only three times won only a partial victory; total victory comes to believers who are in harmony with God's Spirit, obey His Word persistently, commit themselves to the battle and refuse to accept less.

1. The king, the dying prophet and the arrows

   Kings usually waited for prophets to come to them, but here King Joash goes down to the sick Elisha and cries the words Elisha once cried over Elijah, 'My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof'. With the Syrians pressing around him, he knew Elisha's power was beyond natural ability. Elisha told him to strike the ground with the arrows; he struck three times and stopped, and the prophet was angry because he should have kept going until told to stop. Even after Elisha died, a dead man who touched his bones revived, and believers today are living kings, priests and prophets.

   Illustration: It is like a pastor telling the church to keep on confessing a promise and people stopping after a day, or keep on believing and stopping after three days.

   “If he had such power while being dead, how much power do you have while living?”

   • 2 Kings 13:14-21
   • 2 Kings 2:12
   • Revelation 1:6

2. 1. Total victory comes when our spirit is in harmony with God's Spirit

   The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus lives in you and gives abundant, quickening life, so your words carry power and angels act on them. The kingdom is forcefully advancing, so you cannot be a passive Christian: believe and speak, decree and prophesy. God knows you by name, you carry His presence, and the devil's place is under your feet. Do not worry, because the God who feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies takes care of you.

   Illustration: Science says you breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide; he says, 'I breathe in oxygen. I breathe out the Holy Ghost.' Do not invite the devil in for a cup of tea: his geographical location is under your feet.

   “God has raised you up as a prophetic bunch, not a pathetic bunch.”

   • John 10:10
   • Isaiah 55:11
   • Matthew 11:12
   • Mark 11:23
   • Esther 4:14
   • Romans 10:17
   • 1 Kings 19:18
   • Philippians 4:19
   • Philippians 4:6
   • 1 Peter 5:7
   • Matthew 6:26-30
   • Romans 8:31
   • Proverbs 24:16
   • Psalm 37:25

3. 2. Total victory comes when we fully obey God's Word

   The king stopped after three strikes; do not say your confession three times, or come for healing three times, and then stop. Have persistent faith. Humble yourself under God's hand and learn to encourage and build yourself with the Word in private: lay hands on yourself and declare that by His stripes you are healed, and deny lack because God supplies every need. Being a Christian does not end your challenges; it equips you to get up and fight.

   Illustration: No verse in 'First Imaginations, chapter 1, verse 1' says challenges cease for a Christian.

   “If you become a private failure, you'll become a public failure. But if you're a private victor, you'll be a public victor.”

   • 1 Corinthians 13:7
   • Romans 1:16
   • 1 Peter 5:6
   • 1 Peter 2:24

4. 3. Total victory comes when we totally commit ourselves to the battle

   Most people want God to defeat the devil for them, but He works through them, not for them. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he: rearrange the furniture on the inside and the outside will follow. Do not be a runner who leaves every job, church or neighbourhood because of difficult people; face your challenges as David faced Goliath. Do not neglect church, because when believers gather they leave with a corporate anointing.

   Illustration: Quit one job because of 'Sally the miser' and the next will have 'Bobby the miser': different faces, same spirits. If a neighbour is nasty, pray him into the kingdom, and if that fails, ask the Lord to move him, not you. Church is a gathering of eagles, not chickens.

   “He doesn't do it for them. He does it through them.”

   • Proverbs 23:7
   • 1 Samuel 17:46
   • 1 Timothy 6:12
   • Hebrews 10:25

5. 4. Total victory comes when we decide we won't accept less

   After fighting and beating devils he cannot see, he refuses to let a man of flesh and blood diminish him. Decide you want victory at all costs, because every storm and bad day must pass, and when people leave or you lose something, God brings more. God has a raven to feed you in every season, and a doctor's report is not the end, because God's power can heal and provide. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God, so do the same and do not surrender.

   Illustration: He tells Pastor Wesley he recently woke up laughing from deep in his spirit, all the way down the stairs: when you laugh like that, you are above every situation.

   “Bad days don't last.”

   • 1 Kings 17:4-6
   • 1 Samuel 30:6